The More Things Change . . .

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." We could have a philosophical debate on the meaning of the phrase . . . actually, we could, and I'd really enjoy that conversation! ;) However, since this post is more one-directional, I'll share my thoughts.

One way to interpret that saying, is that despite a change in outward appearance, a person can still be the same on the inside as they were before the outward change. So, even though my new profile picture sports my stylish gray hair instead of my lush auburn hair, I'm still very much the same me on the inside. I still love a good debate, a good piece of chocolate, a good piece of writing, and a good friend.

Lately, I've been focusing a lot on the good debates and good friends. I love to talk!

My pal, Mitch, and I have been waxing philosophical as we debate some interesting ideas in our new podcast, What Else You Got?

Check it out, and give us a follow. Feel free to join our conversations by leaving comments on our short videos and/or full podcast. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Here are some places you can find us:

Instagram

TikTok

Facebook

YouTube

How about you? Do you like listening to or watching podcasts? Do you have a favorite? Why? Leave your comments below!

High School Speech & Debate Competitions

Man. Oh. Man.

I absolutely LOVE judging high school speech and debate competitions.

I spent 12 hours Friday and 12 hours Saturday (I kid you not!), with only a 7 hour night's rest in between, judging competitions. I am STILL exhausted!

While I did get to judge three rounds of speech competitions, I mostly judged debate ... and with that, mostly POLICY debate. Holy smokes. Those people talk (aka SPEW) so fast, it's ridiculous, and they have worked so hard researching, it blows my mind!

But, I thought I would share with you a few of the funny things I overheard teenagers say during the competition (two of these were said in speeches, and two were said in the hallways ... can you tell which is which?) ...


"Hey! Girlfriend. Hold my earrings while I take this mother down."


"Oh. Yeah. We did pickle juice shots when she stayed at my house that night, but she thought our pickle juice didn't taste right because it wasn't Kosher."


"You can't hurt me. I have a black belt in Jesus."


"Yeah. I had a pet cow when I was a little kid. My friends didn't believe me. So, one day when they were over at my house, they said they wanted to see my pet cow. I said sure and led them to the back of the house. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I opened the freezer and introduced them to Moo-Moo, my pet cow."
...

I love spending time with young adults ... well most of them. I did kick three girls out of the audience during a policy debate round because they were talking and giggling and texting ... AND disrupting the debate. I'm sure they had a few choice words to say about me out in the hallway. And, during another policy debate round, I interrupted because the AFF side refused to provide their evidence to the NEG side, and I quoted debate code to them. You should have heard the rude things they said! Oh. My. Gosh. I told them right then and there they'd lost the round for speaking to me that way, and they could either leave immediately or stay and finish the round. Surprisingly, they stayed and finished. But they still lost, and I made note on their ballot as to why.

And, yet, I still love judging! The time and effort these teenagers put into their preparation and the competitions is remarkable.

So, from the above four overheard comments, can you tell which ones happened casually out in the hallways and which ones were parts of prepared speeches?

Dumpster Diving

I love teenagers. Seriously.

An awesome young woman that I admire said to me, "Hey, did your son tell you we were thinking about going out later tonight?"

"Uh, no. Where--" but then I stopped myself, realizing I was prying, and instead said, "I'm sure you guys would have a blast."

Her eyebrows popped up. "Really? You don't mind if a bunch of us go out later?"

I denied my inner control freak and mounting curiosity. "No. I don't mind. He's old enough to make his own decisions."

"Oh. Cool!!"

So, I arrived home and said to my seventeen-year-old son, "So, I talked to Bertha (name changed to protect the innocent instigator), and she said you guys are going out tonight."

His eyebrows popped up. "Really? You don't mind?"

My curiosity became harder to control. "No. As long as you walk in the door before midnight. I don't care if you go have fun with your friends." I'm such a great mom.

"Well, I don't know if we can be home before midnight, because Krispy Kreme doesn't close until 11pm, and it takes half an hour just to drive back home after that, and we'll need time to go through the dumpster."

"WHAT?!" I very calmly asked.

"Dumpster diving," he very calmly replied. "You said you didn't mind."

"WHAT?!" I heard myself repeat.

"Dumpster diving. Krispy Kreme closes at 11pm. They throw out their unsold donuts. We grab them from the dumpster and run."

Clearly my son is too young to make his own decisions.

"I'm sure that can't be legal," I said.

"The girls have done it before." He smiled and waggled his big bushy eyebrows.

"That doesn't make it legal. And, I'm not getting you out of jail. You will have to sit there and rot."

"Okay! Thanks, Mom!" And he dialed his friends to make plans.

...
p.s. If dumpster diving is illegal, please consider this a completely fictional story. I am, after all, a writer.

GASP! - Conversation Overheard

The letter G is for GASP!

Okay ... my regular followers know I like to eavesdrop ... really, who doesn't? Truth!

Wednesday, I had to pull my daughter from school for an orthodontist appointment (a-whole-nother story). While I was walking from the parking lot to the entrance of the school, I eavesdropped on the two teenage boys walking behind me.

Conversation caught in the middle:

Guy with two ear rings: Can't he drive you?
Guy in purple jacket: No! My brother can't drive anywhere now.
GWTER: Why?
GIPJ: The last time he drove he killed someone.
GWTER: What!?
GIPJ: Yeah, but it's no big deal. It wasn't his fault.
GWTER: Who died? Someone in his car?
GIPJ: No. The other guy who hit him.
GWTER: Died?
GIPJ: Yeah. He was on a motorcycle, and he hit my brother's car.
GWTER: Is your brother in trouble?
GIPJ: No. Worst he'll get is involuntary manslaughter. But, it wasn't his fault.

GASP!

Seriously? Someone is dead and GIPJ was only focusing on the fact that it wasn't his brother's fault.

It makes me wonder if our teenagers are desensitized to death and violence. They see so MUCH more of it than previous generations.

I wanted to turn around and shake him.

When we reached the doors, I held it open for him so I could get a good look at his face. He was not joking. His face was sad. Maybe that's just the way teenage boys talk, or justify in their heads, or avoid emotion; but OH. MY. GASP!


Are teenagers desensitized to death?

Conversations Overheard

One of my favorite things is judging high school speech competitions; and frankly, volunteering is one of my better character traits (these are few, so I must make note). Before I bloviate, let me get to the good stuff.

An interesting quirk of mine is I love to eavesdrop, especially around teenagers.

Here's a conversation overheard in the judges' lounge (these guys were probably 19 yrs-old):

"Dude, you judgin?"
"Yeah. You?" Brown Jacket Guy (BJG) asked.
"Yeah. Dude, you still with your partner?" Hairy Leg Dude (HLD) asked, clearly not realizing it SNOWED. He wore SHORTS.
"Nah. She went to BYU. I went to Basic."
"Oh. BYU. That's bad."
"Those guys down there are players." BJG said.
"She was hot." HLD lounged back and crossed his hairy legs.
"Judge any hot girls today?" HLD sipped his water bottle.
"Actually..." BJG smiled. "I judged O.O. and this one girl was --"
"Remember that competition last year and those --"
"Yeah. That was chill." Both pause.
"What are you majoring in?" BJG asked.
"Electrical Engineering."
"That's a lot of math."
"Yeah, but I'm keeping it all balanced," HLD said.
"How?"
"Our frat parties at least four nights a week."
"Dude."
"Yeah. Friday classes are tough cuz Thursday's our biggest drinking night, but it's chill."
"You think ballots are out?"
"Maybe."
HLD and BJG left to check the ballot table.

Seriously.

Why were these guys judges? Shouldn't they have been out developing their fuliguline skills, raising rabbits, or sharpening their basic training blades? Yup, that's a bad habit of mine: judging others unfairly. Maybe they *were* good judges.

And, I have a secret to confess... while sitting there, I pretended to read. I even turned the pages.

Crusader Challenge #1: complete. And I did it in only 251 words.

Can you find the lie?

Listening to teenagers

So... you think you want to write a book for young adults, huh?  Many agents say when they receive sample pages, they skip ahead to the first lines of dialogue. Many writers struggle with realistic dialogue - especially teenage dialogue.

To make things more challenging, teenage boys converse much differently than teenage girls. Truth! ha.

Girls are SO dramatic, in actions and in words.  Boys, on the other hand, can be very flat. Ah, yes... both are the stereotypes, but stereotypes exist for a reason.

Here's a conversation that occured between my son and another teenage boy yesterday. We were moving Mitchell into the dorms of a local university for a summer work program sponsored by the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Mitchell leaned against the wall while he balanced a paper plate in one hand and a potato chip in the other.  He surveyed the group of boys and girls mingling and eating. Mitchell popped the potato chip into his mouth as a guy about his own age, maybe a year or two older, approached him and asked, "So what's your vision problem?"

Mitchell finished chewing and answered, "I can't see out of this eye." He used his thumb to indicate his right eye.

"Oh," the other boy nodded his head and squinted. "Cool." Then he shook his head and corrected, "I don't mean cool you're blind. I mean cool."

"Yah," Mitchell smiled. Both boys laughed. "How 'bout you?" Mitchell asked.  The other boy went on to explain how his right eye didn't work at all and he had no peripheal vision with his left eye.

... Could you imagine two bubbly outgoing girls having this same conversation? Maybe. Maybe not.

Lucky me, I get to spend this entire week observing and listening to girls aged twelve to eighteen. I'm in charge of thirty girls at girls' camp. YAY. (exclamation point intentionally left off... jk)  I plan to listen carefully and observe their interactions. I may even take a couple of notes. Then I plan to write lots when I get back into town.

I do have a book to finish.

Back to work!

Oh, by the way, have you heard any great dialogue between teens lately? Do share.